Practice apparatus for card games



March 2, 1943. w. F. SHAW PRACTICE APPARATUS FOR CARD GAMES Filed July 3, 1941 Zhwcntor ommmhwhmwnnmhm HUM v QE EB L UHHUM LHEMEOMEHMUMUM QEMEMmMU A. s H a QWMEWEUMUMUMUE. V

HHMUMDM a omwmhfiwhmhmwmh omwmhahmhmhmhnhm O O O O O O O U v emememamamew y wmme wm mwm QUMUMU WILLIAM F SHAW Fla. 5'

Patented Mar. 2, 1943 APPARATUS FGR' CARD: GAMES William F. Shaw, Rocky River, Ohio, assignor-ot one-halt. to. Horace C. Mayer's, Rocky River,

Ohio

Application July 3', 1941, Serial No. 400,903

8 Claims;

This invention relates to game apparatus adapted to be used in practicing card games, such as: bridge or the like, wherein practice hands are set upand played out in a manner simulating the playing of regular card games.

This invention provides a game board, which will facilitate theconvenient andrapid assembling,playing, and ire-playing of card bands, such as. bridge or the like, and: the same isuseful for teaching or'studying the-playing oicardgames'.

An: object of this inventionis to provide means for. quickly-and easily: setting upand playing out cardxhand's;

Another object is to provide means for quickly reasetting card hands after a hand is played; in order that the same cardhands may here-played successive times.

Other objects are to provide a practice game apparatus which can be conveniently held by one or more players, and therefore does not require a table, said apparatus being small, compact and light in weight, and thus easily handled; and therefore adapted to be produced at a relatively low cost.

Other and. further objects will be apparent during the course of the-following specification.

In. the drawing forming apart of this specification:

Figure 1 is. a plan view of my card game apparatus showing four card hands set up for playing, and having a portion of thetop surfacethereof broken away, in orderto; show the playing discs and shutters,

Figure 2 is a plan view ofa row: of playing discs and; associated parts,- drawn to a somewhat larger scale, and showing. the card indicia on the disc, Figure 3 is a. sectional. viewtakenonthe line 3+3 of Figure 2-,.

Figure-.4; is a fragmentary view of a portion of the: apparatus illustrating the manner or operatingtheshutters,

Figure 5- is a plan view cf'a disc; shutter, and associated parts, while Figure 6* is a section taken on the line F--6 of tained. If desired, however,.the board 'l'liznay-be for-med of two sheets of light material, spaced apart except along their margins, where they may be-provided with suitable binding material, such as tape'or' the like, to form the sheets into a playingboardi The top-surface l2 is provided with four-groups of rectangular apertures I4", each group'being arranged in four vertically disposed rows of seven apertures. At the top of each vertical row of apertures l4 card suit indicia is placed on the board to'indicate the suit of the cards disposed ineach vertical row. For convenience, each groupof apertures M is identified by a name, indicating an individual card hand, such as north, east, south, and west, in accordance with the recognized practice of identifying card hands.

A circular playing disc I6 is provided for each aperture l4 and a short circular pin l5 having its upper end projecting upwardly to the top of the surf-ace I? a short distance, is adapted to be grasped by a player and rotated on its longitudinal axis in an obvious manner; One pin 15' is disposed at the lower right hand corner of each aperture Ma Each pin I5 is provided at its lower end with an upper flange I! anda lower flange l8, while a cooperating disc is is retained between said flanges by a pressed fit, or in any suitable manner, whereby the disc 16 is suitably retained on a cooperatingpin l5.

Each playing disc i6 is provided around its outer margin with card indicia l9 arranged in proper sequence,- as clearly illustrated in Figure 3 and'positi'onedand arranged in such manner that it is adapted to be rotated by its cooperating pin [5 to bringinto registry with a cooperating aperture arry desired card indicia. A shutter 20. of the shape and" size illustrated in Figures 3, 4, and 5 is disposed between each cooperatingdisc l6 and the under side of the top surface l2 near each aperture [4, and is rotatably mounted. around, a cooperating pin IS. A shutter pin 2i fixedly mounted onthe shutter 20 and projecting upwardly" therefrom extends through an arcuate aperture 22 provided in the top board surface I2 and positioned and arranged in such manner, that the shutter pin 2| may be moved by a finger, as illustrated in Figure 4', to move the shutter 20 from a disc masking position where it covers its cooperating aperture M, as illustrated at 23 in Figure 1, to its non-masking position, where it exposes its cooperating disc It, as illustrated at at in Figure 1.

Two: dials 2-5 having movable hands 2'! and provided with tabulating indicia 2'6 thereon may be provided for tabulating and recording the various plays, if desired.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the pin l5 projecting upwardly from its cooperating disc 16, may be conveniently grasped by the player between the thumb and index finger and rotated on its vertical axis to expose through the aperture I4 any one of the indicia l9 provided on its cooperating disc l6. Also, the shutters 20 may be rotated on their vertical axes by sliding pins 2| in arcuate apertures 22 by a finger as illustrated in Figure 4, and that when a pin 2| is at the top of its arcuate aperture its cooperating shutter is in a non-masking position where it reveals card indicia l9 through an aperture l4, and that when said pin is at its lower position it causes its cooperating shutter to mask its cooperating disc Hi.

My game board II is adapted to be used in setting up and playing out various card hands andgames. I have found it useful in setting up bridge hands and playing the game of bridge in a manner simulating a regular game, in such instances the individual card hands of each of the players, north, east, south, and west, may be set up as follows: The cards to be played out by each hand are set up or dealt out from a prearranged list or card hand; the shutters 2B are caused to assume their non-masking positions by moving the shutter pins 2i to the tops of the cooperating arcuate apertures 22 to exposethe discs l6. Then, the discs !6 are rotated by manipulating pins I5, as hereinbefore explained, to bring the desired card indicia I 9 into registry with the apertures M, the suit of each card being indicated by the suit indicia positioned at the top of each vertical row of apertures l4.

After the card hands are thus set up or dealt out,- the game is played by causing the shutter 20 to be moved downwardly and thus mask each card as it is played out. Inthus playing the game masking out of each card constitutes the equivalent of actually playing the cards onto the center of the board. This procedure continues until all the hands are played out in accordance .with the rules of the particular game being played.

Should the player desire to replay the same hands, the same hands may be set up or exposed to view for playing by merely running a finger upwardly along each row of shutter pins 2| to cause each pin to be moved to its upper position in the arcuate aperture 22 andthus expose the playing discs l6, as illustrated in Figure 4. Thus it will be apparent that it is only necessary to run a finger upwardly along each row of shutter pins 2| to reset the same card hands which were previously played out. z 1

- The. game board I2 disclosed herein is of relatively small size, which permits its ready handling and also permits it to be conveniently ,to be rotated, and that such rotation of the other discsbrings desired cardindicia 19 on such discs,

- game as it may be used in playing a wide variety of games. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that my invention disclosed herein may be variously changed, used, or modified, without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing the advantages thereof, and that the present embodiment of my invention is illustrative only, and that my invention is not limited thereto.

I claim: 7

1. Card game apparatus, comprising a game .board provided along its top with a series of apertures, a playing disc positioned under the top of said board near each aperture, each disc being provided with game indicia and means for its rotation to selectively bring game indicia disposed thereon into registry with a cooperating aperture, ashutter disposed between the top' of said board and each disc, the same being adapted to selectively cover and uncover a cooperating aperture, said shutter being pivotally mounted around said disc rotating means, thereby providing simple and easily operated game apparatus.

2. Card game apparatus, comprising a game board provided along its top with a series of apertures, playing discs positioned under the top of said board near said apertures, each disc being provided with game indicia on its upper surface and with an upstanding pin fixedly mounted on said disc and projecting through the top of said board, the same being adapted to be grasped and rotated on its longitudinal axis for rotating said disc and selectively bringing desired game indicia contained thereon into registry with a cooperating aperture, and a shutter disposed between each disc and its cooperating aperture and adapted to selectively cover and uncover a cooperating aperture, said shutter being pivotally mounted around said disc pin below said board top, thereby providing simple and easily operated game apparatus.

3. Card game apparatus, comprising a game board provided along its'top with a series of apertures, playing discs positioned under the top of said board near said apertures, each disc being provided with game indicia on its upper surface and with an upstanding pin fixedly mounted on said disc and projecting through the top of said board, the same being adapted to be grasped and rotated on its longitudinal axis for rotating said disc and selectively bringing desired game in= dicia contained thereon into registry with a co operating aperture, a shutter disposed between each disc and its cooperating aperture and adapted to selectively cover and uncover a cooperating aperture, said shutter being pivotally mounted around said disc pin below said board top, and means projecting through the top of said board for moving said shutter from an aperture covering to a non-aperture covering position, for the purposes described.

4. Card game apparatus, comprising a game board provided along its top with a series of card apertures, playing discs positioned under the top of said board near said apertures, each disc being provided with game indicia on its upper surface and with an upstanding pin fixedly mounted on said disc and projecting through the top of said board, the same being adapted to be grasped and rotated on its longitudinal axis for rotating said disc and selectively bringing desired game indicia contained thereon into registry with a cooperating aperture, and a shutter disposed between each disc and its cooperating aperture and adapted to selectively cover and uncover a cooperating aperture, said shutter being positioned below said board top, said board being provided with an arcuate aperture for each card aperture having said disc pin as a center, and a pin fixedly mounted on said shutter, extending upwardly through said arcuate aperture and adapted to be actuated therein for moving said shutter from card aperture covering to uncovering positions using said disc pin as a pivot.

5. Card game apparatus, comprising a game board provided with aligned rows of card apertures, a series of cooperating arcuate apertures positioned and arranged in aligned rows, each arcuate aperture being disposed adjacent a cooperating card aperture, a rotatable disc having card indicia mounted thereon, positioned beneath each card aperture, means for rotating said card disc, a shutter for each card disc adapted to be moved to alternately cover and alternately uncover its cooperating aperture, and a pin fixedly mounted on each shutter, projecting through said arcuate aperture and adapted to be moved therein, the same being positioned and arranged in such manner that an entire row of shutters may be moved to a card aperture covering or uncovering position by merely moving a finger along said board, for the purposes described.

6. Card game apparatus, comprising a game board provided with aligned rows of card apertures, a series of cooperating arcuate apertures positioned and arranged in aligned rows, each arcuate aperture being disposed adjacent a cooperating card aperture, a rotatable disc having card indicia mounted thereon, positioned beneath each card aperture, means for rotating said card disc, a shutter for each card disc adapted to be moved to alternately cover and alternately uncover its cooperating aperture, and a pin fixedly mounted on each shutter, projecting through said arcuate aperture and adapted to be moved therein, the same being positioned and arranged in such manner that an entire row of shutters may be moved to a card aperture covering position by moving a finger along said board in one direction and said row of shutters may be moved to an aperture uncovering position by moving a finger along said board in the opposite direction, thereby revealing previously revealed card indicia for the purposes described.

'7. Card game apparatus, comprising a game board provided with aligned rows of card apertures, a series of cooperating arcuate apertures positioned and arranged in aligned rows, each arcuate aperture being disposed adjacent a cooperating card aperture, a rotatable disc having card indicia mounted thereon, positioned beneath each card aperture, means for rotating said card disc, a shutter for each card disc pivotally mounted around said disc rotating means and adapted to be moved to alternately cover and alternately uncover its cooperating aperture, and a pin fixedly mounted on each shutter, projecting through said arcuate aperture and adapted to be moved therein, the same being positioned and arranged in such manner that an entire row of shutters may be moved to a card aperture covering or uncovering position by merely moving a finger along said board.

8. Game apparatus, comprising a game board provided with a series of apertures along its top surface, a playing disc disposed below each aperture, provided with game indicia and adapted to be rotated for bringing game indicia into registry with its cooperating aperture, each disc frictionally overlapping cooperating discs substantially the radius of a disc, whereby the frictional engagement of said disc allows each disc to be individually rotated without moving its associated disc, and a shutter disposed between said board and each disc, the same being adapted to selectively cover and uncover a cooperating disc whereby game indicia on each disc may be selectively masked or exposed to view through its cooperating aperture.

WILLIAM F. SHAW. 

